Dolly Follies - Rhymes, quotes and dolly humour!

Dolly Follies - of dolls and dreams and childhood things...

Dollies' Washday

I like to wash my dollies' clothes

And hang them out to dry

They flutter like white butterflies

Against a pale blue sky

And when they’re dry I take them in

And iron each tuck and pleat
You’d know my dollies' anywhere
So clean they are, so neat.

From a 1920's Childrens' Annual

Hear My Dollies' Prayer

O Lord, I pray Thee, hear my dollies’ prayer,

And teach them how to ask for what is right;

But if it’s going to give You extra care,

Then You might skip my blessings for tonight.

Please make them all more loving and polite;

I pray Thee not to let their covers tear,

But keep their sawdust fillings out of sight,

And please help Anne to grow a head of hair.

I wish poor Bella’s knees were made to bend,

I truly am as sorry as can be.

I hope that You won’t mind, and that You’ll send

The blessings that each dolly asks of Thee.

And, Lord, I pray that You will just pertend

This is my dollies talking, ‘stead of me.

From an old 1920’s children’s book

We say that a girl with her doll anticipates the mother. It is more true, perhaps, that most mothers are still but children with playthings. Francis Herbert Bradley

There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again. Elizabeth Lawrence

Fickle

New dolly, you are very sweet!

With lips, an’ teeth, an’ truly hair!

And you can bend your hands an’ feet,

Instead of sprawling here an’ there.

And you can close your eyes up tight, instead of staring, day an’ night.

I am so very proud of you

I know now just how mother feels,

When I am dressed my nicest, too,

And there is company to meals.

Us mothers take a lot of pride

In pretty children at our side.

I think I’ll call you Anna Belle,-

You mustn’t let it make you vain,-

Or maybe you are Lady Nell;

My rag-doll’s name was only Jane.

I hope she won’t feel bad, but-well-

I re’lize , now, that she was plain.

From an old 1920’s children’s book

The Little Girl To Her Dolly
There, go to sleep, Dolly, in own mother's lap;

I've pit on your nightgown and neat little cap;

So sleep, pretty baby, and shut up your eye,

Bye bye, little Dolly, lie still and bye bye.

I'll lay my clean handkerchief over your head,

And then make believe that my lap is your bed;

So hush, little dear, and be sure you don't cry;

Bye bye, little Dolly, lie still, and bye bye.

There, now it is morning, and time to get up,

And I'll crumb you a mess in my own china cup;

So wake, little baby, and open your eye,

For I think it's high time to have done with bye bye.
Jane and Alan Taylor (1806)

A girl is Innocence playing in the mud, Beauty standing on its head, and Motherhood dragging a doll by the foot. Allan Beck.

A grown-up is a child with layers on. Woody Harrelson.

My Little Doll

I once had a sweet little doll, dears,

The prettiest doll in the world;

Her cheeks were so red and so white, dears,

And her hair was so charmingly curled.

But I lost my poor little doll, dears,

As I played in the heath one day;

And I cried for more than a week, dears,

But I never could find where she lay.

I found my poor little doll, dears,

As I played in the heath one day:

Folks say she is terribly changed, dears,

For her paint is all washed away,

And her arm trodden off by the cows, dears,

And her hair not the least bit curled:

Yet for old sakes' sake she is still, dears,

The prettiest doll in the world.

Charles Kingsley (1862)

My Rag Dolly

When Sarah topples over

Her poise she can't regain;

To stand up in a nice toe line

She never could attain.

And Sarah's no wise graceful -
But I love Sarah Jane.

If someday I should miss her

From the shelf where she has lain,

No end of nursery seasons,

My heart it most would pain,

Of all the dolls from belle to cob,

To part with Sarah Jane.

Hush Baby, My Doll
Hush Baby, my doll,
I pray you don't cry,
And I'll give you some bread
And some milk by and by.
Or perhaps you'd like custard,
Or maybe a tart,
Then to either you're welcome
With all of my heart.

The Clothes-Pin Doll
I'd like to be a clothes-pin doll,

Because she never cries,

And isn't sorry when she's bad,

She hasn't any eyes.

I'd like to be a clothes-pin doll,

He'd meet a just disgrace,

Who sneaked because my back was turned,

When perhaps it was my face.

I'd like to be a clothes-pin doll,

She never sews a bit.

I shouldn't care to be a rag,

I'd rather stand than sit.

Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows. John Betjeman.

"Goodbye, and come back soon!"